Conference schedule of oral communications, poster presentations, and other relevant information, with a general overview of what is going to happen during the days of the conference will be posted here. Please consider your presentation as a potential contribution to the upcoming JMBA-ECS cetacean special issue. Details on this will follow in due course.

Invited speakers are Ursula Siebert, Graham Pierce and Peter Ross Here is an overview (title only) of some of the talks • Early dolphin catches the fishing boat: behaviour- and time-specific social structure in bottlenose dolphins • A review of an unprecedented mass stranding event of short beaked common dolphins on Cape Cod, MA, USA • Genetic vs. Ecological Management Units: What time-scale is relevant for managing threats? • Population genetic structure of Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) in the North Pacific based on mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA data • Small cetacean habitats around the largest sandbank in the offshore North Sea ‚Äì The Dogger Bank revisited • Can the junk food hypothesis be applied to harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in Dutch waters? • Effectiveness of real-time detection of harbour porpoises • Sound production and behaviour of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on feeding grounds in NE-Icelandic waters • Aerial and ship-based distance sampling surveys for cetaceans in the Southern Ocean • Cetacean in the Pelagos sanctuary: need for a multi-scale management approach • Highly specified lipid tissues of cetaceans: coupling GC and NMR HR-MAS studies unravels variations in biochemical compositions related to biological functions. • Behavioural responses of long-finned pilot whales to tagging, military sonar and killer whale playbacks. • Insight into the North Atlantic fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) population structure by means of stable isotope analysis • Using single-platform line transect surveys to estimate densities of harbour porpoises in small coastal sites in Ireland • Large-scale static acoustic survey of a low-density population ‚Äì estimating the abundance of the Baltic Sea harbour porpoise • Revisiting common dolphin population structure in the Northeast Atlantic using a population genomics approach • Xenobiotic molecular biomarkers in harbour seals as proxies for pollutant burden and effects? • Pre-consent monitoring as part of an Environmental Impact Assessment at the Atlantic Marine Energy Test Site (AMETS) off Co. Mayo, Ireland. • Population Viability Analysis of Mediterranean Monk seal (Monachus Monachus) and significance of dispersal in survival (Northeast Mediterranean Sea) • Seals on holiday: Expansion of the Grey Seal Population in the Dutch Wadden Sea • Meta-analyses of whalewatching impact studies: differences and similarities in disturbance responses among species • Evidence of land-sea transfer of a zoonotic human pathogen, Campylobacter spp., to grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) • Spatio-Temporal Distribution Patterns of Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) Calves in German Waters • Assessing Temporal and Spatial Trends in PCBs and DDTs in odontocetes since 1980 • Coda repertoires and social structure of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the western Indian Ocean • Porpoise Alerting Device (PAL) Field-test of potential warning signals for harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Belt Sea, Denmark • Molecular Diet Analysis of Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) and Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) • Demonstrating robust Consistent Individual Differences in the vigilance behaviours of grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) during the breeding season: what more could we learn from a cross-context approach? • Harbour porpoises in the Mediterranean Sea; survey confirms their presence in the northern Aegean • Harbour porpoise life history, diet and fisheries interactions in two regions of the Northeast Atlantic: Scotland (UK) and the north-west Iberian Peninsula • The dolphin biosonar beam is focused in stages: Validation of a vibroacoustic finite element model using bottlenose dolphin simulations • The slaughter of the Southwest Atlantic right whale by 19th century whalers: two decades for decimating the population and five to initiate recovery • Cortisol in cetacean skin: a new stress assessment tool • Role of bottlenose dolphins and other top predators in linking ecosystem dynamics in the Florida Everglades • Variation in the abundance of marine mammals during the different phases of construction of an offshore wind farm in the North Sea • Assessing the effect of boat traffic on bottlenose dolphin foraging activity using passive acoustic techniques • Gastrointestinal parasites of free-living Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in the Northern Red Sea, Egypt • A new approach to estimate inter-birth interval in a bottlenose dolphin population • Acoustically derived growth-rates of male sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the NW Mediterranean Sea • Piecemeal programs poorly protect porpoise populations (and those of other marine mammals): Why conservation isn't working

Here are the themes/titles of proposed workshops (some will be organized together as joined workshops). Workshops will be organized on Saturday April 5 and Sunday April 6. For some workshops, the number of participant can be limited and/or some workshops can be confidential. Finally, some are free of charges and for other there are registration fees (contact the organizers). For any question concerning workshop please contact the organizers and not the conference committee.

Saturday

Scientific progress on cetaceans and perspectives in the Pelagos Sanctuary - Career enhancing skills only taught through experience - learn from the veterans, Students' workshop - Aquatic mammals from latin America - Exploring technologies for improved data capture from platform of opportunity surveys of marine mammals - Estimating the probability of detection from passive acoustic data

Sunday

Introducing noise into the marine environment: what are the requirements for an impact assessment for marine mammals?

Communicating marine mammal science to the general public

New development in pollutant’s studies in marine mammals?

Euroseals

Marine mammal rescue

Marine mammals as indicators of historical changes

Emerging Infectious Disease in Marine Mammals: Sentinels of Change in the Environment